NHER 13784 (Monument record) - Medieval saltern converted into post medieval fortification

1968.
Rectangular earthwork about 91m x 137m (300ft x 450ft), cut by railway line, identified at end of Wootton Drift.
Perhaps the 'sconce' or fort referred to in 1588 at the 'croche' (river bifurcation) 'a myle distant from Lynn where the channel is narrowest'.
See (S1) and (S2).
Two cannon probably found here - photo at KLM (copy in file).
Earthwork now ploughed out - information from KLM.
Medieval sherds also found here according to KLM map.
E. Rose (NAU) 2 March 1989.

Southeast quadrant of area as marked on record map built over by housing. Southwest quadrant derelict land; northern half under crop. No visible features in any of these. However, to north at Context 2 at TF 6340 2239; OS 1:10,000 (date unknown) shows apparent corner of rectangular enclosure projecting east of old railway and marked as Civil War Fort (not 1588). Ordnance Survey coastal air photograph 1967 shows dark polygon here, all east of railway, but very small for a fort. No surface trace except perhaps darkening of soil in ploughed field. No trace at all west of railway; circle shown on same map is depression about 2m deep, probably old pit.
Some distance to southwest of road/railway crossing are mounds or undulations up to 2m high, being cut into for factory estate and composed of red-brown earth; suggested by [1] as saltern mounds - but several undulations in this area.
Survey in file.
Information from (S3).
R.J. Rickett (NAU) 27 March 1990.

For the original of (S1) see lecture notes by the late Mr Talbot filed under NHER 5486.

October 2002. Norfolk NMP.
The centre of this site is a sub-rounded mound with a potential east to west length of 115m and a width of 80m. This is almost certainly a saltern mound, and forms a small group along with sites NHER 27129, 27130 and 27131. This in turn is part of an extensive saltern complex on the former saltmarsh at South Wootton. Dating evidence for the salterns is scarce although isolated finds from sites further to the north would suggest that the majority of these mounds are medieval in date.
The mound is enclosed by a relatively large sub-rectangular ditch, which has a width of up to 8m in 1946 (S4), although it may be much altered and silted up by that time. The ditch may be contemporary with the saltern but the size of the features has given rise to the identification of the site as a fort, possibly from the Spanish Armada period (1588). Two cannon were also allegedly found on the site. This location may have been strategically important to guard the approach up the River Ouse, and a saltern mound may have been utilised to build such an installation under urgent circumstances. However, NHER 31431 to the immediate west appears more like a fortified site, although they may both be fortifications of different periods.
To the immediate southeast of the mound is a smaller sub-rectangular ditched enclosure with an east to west length of 24m and a width of 18m. This feature is similar to the platform on saltern mound NHER 27130, and might represent the site of a post medieval structure.
See also NHER 31431.
M. Brennand (NMP) 25 October 2002.

September 2016. Geophysical Survey.
Magnetometer survey of part of large proposed development site.
The north-easternmost part of the area covered by this record fell within the south-west corner of one of the fields examined, although all of the mapped features lie to the south. A number of areas of magnetic disturbance were recorded, although at least some appear to coincide with the former boundaries and drains shown on 19th-cenury maps.
See report (S5) and NHER 66864 for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 18 April 2023.

February-May 2018. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of part of large proposed development site.
A number of trenches were excavated in the north-east part of the area covered by this record. Although no remains of a saltern mound were recorded a large feature exposed in one of the trenches was potentially part of a filtration unit (in which salt-impregnated silts were processed to create a brine solution that could then be boiled down to create salt). A sample from the primary fill of this feature was found to contains numerous small twigs that potentially represented the remains of an organic filter. Unfortunately no dating evidence was recovered.
See report (S6) and NHER 66864 for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 18 April 2023.